39 COMMENTS

    • And the superior head coach. CR coached the first half and was down by three and barely up 4 at the half after a last second putback.

      Moreland coached fbe second half and the team used a 20-4 run to seal it in the W column.

      • Not making fun of Moreland. Leadership by players is great. Pointing out how CR is too casual with his leadership. He needs to be more vocal and show more energy and fire from the sideline. CR not beong as active as he should and letting things play out negatively or not positively enough for too long is why Moreland had to rally the players at halftime. He knew it was time to wake up.

        • Or a player is echoing the same thing every coach I’ve ever had says at just about every practice, time-out and halftime. There’s a difference between being effective and not being so. But to say any coach good or bad doesn’t say the exact same things is just ignorant. In fact, Coach Rob says them with a more dry, analytical bent. So maybe that’s why the players don’t listen to him when he says the same damn thing every other coach says. Perhaps he can’t relate to the players due to age/education/experience.

          Maybe he does what most other coaches do. Maybe he gets a couple team leaders to buy into what he says, and they go and give the team that info on their terms.

          After all, we just had an article this past week where Coach Rob said he was going to take his bigger and stronger team and play to those advantages. Is it strange that a team leader looks at the first half of the last game and says, “What the fuck are you guys doing? We’re bigger and stronger than those putzes, and you’re getting beat down by them!”

          I’m a little confused that this is even an issue beyond us saying, “Good for Moreland!”

          I guess we can just devolve into Groanian comments on the article and blame darkie in the White House because Bruce Willis’ death on an asteroid caused too many late starts for OSU football… or something equally relevant.

          • Based on how his teams play I find it hard to believe that CR is insisting that his players crash “the glass with authority”.

            In fact they way they’ve played over the years I’d be surprised if he says it much more than once a year.

          • You don’t become a hoops coach without saying that with just about every breath. The problem would be implementation. When you run a zone that puts four guys above the FT line, you’re going to lose on the boards. When you run an offense where four of your guys are on the perimeter and the other is on the high post, you’re going to lose on the boards.

            When you start to match up size for size by putting your front line in the lane on both defense and offense and they still don’t do what you say, then you have problems. One of the ways to correct that problem is to get one of your players to say what’s what.

            I’ve never really had a problem with the effort of our hoops teams. It’s the execution, scheme and use of personnel that frustrates me. Those are very different than the weird stuff you guys are whining about here.

            One thing I’m noticing is that Barton is in just because he doesn’t make mistakes. That would be a “play not to lose” thing for me. Without looking at the stats, I’d say Barton still had a nice +/-, the team always looked like it slumped when Reid came in and it soared when Cooke entered the game. And I still don’t understand why LMW isn’t getting minutes. He provided some positive minutes at the end of the first half.

            I’m not defending the coach here. I’m attacking a completely ridiculous argument. Go after the real things, not some amorphous crackpot idea someone latched onto and won’t let go. This is like blaming the coach for missed free throws. I just imagine how terrible Phil Jackson was as a coach because Shaquille O’Neal couldn’t hit charity shots. He must have never said FTs were important. I doubt he said so more than once per year. In fact, Phil Jackson hasn’t won a game in several years. Thanks Obama!

          • Now I’m confused, even more than usual I might add.

            You’re pointing out that the reason the team is getting beat on the boards is because of the type of offense and defense CR is running. So in effect you’re pointing out the areas where CR is fu**ing up.

            It seems to me if it was obvious to Moreland that, because of where the guys are playing on the court, there’s no way they could rebound effectively he wouldn’t be urging them to crash the glass with authority. No, I take that to mean he said what he said because he thought they were playing close enough to the rim to be able to get to the ball. Taking that a step further it sounds to me like he’s saying the bigs are playing soft which again would fall on CR.

            CR has one thing he can use to get the player’s attention and that’s the bench. He has so many bigs this year I would have thought that the mantra right out of the gate would have been “crash the glass with authority or you’ll be riding the bench”. The players want to play and a message like that will definitely get their attention and they would respond to it.

            Have they been playing like that was the message? No. They’ve been playing soft and it took a player to get them motivated instead of the coach. Moreland thought the guys should be getting rebounds that they weren’t. Why didn’t the coach put in someone who would play with some gusto and crash the boards? Why wasn’t he chewing a$$e$? Why did a player have to stand up and say it?

            So you have your opinions about what the difficulties are and they seem reasonable and justified but here’s where I’m confused; why do you get on other posters so harshly when you don’t agree with them?

            A few more mumbles while I’m about it.

            Why aren’t the players playing with discipline? Why are they so sloppy on “D”? I’d say it’s because the coach isn’t doing his job. Which, imo, should mean that bobby should be asking CR some tough questions.

            It seems to me that the athletic department is on cruse control and bobby isn’t doing his job. It also appears that Dr. Ray isn’t doing his job either because of how lax the athletic department is.

            Imo somebody ought to be asking Dr. Ray some tough questions. Either that or firing his ass either just before or just after they fire BDC.

          • I’m not saying the coach isn’t at fault for anything. The buck stops there. I’ve not seen soft that much with his teams, but I have seen years of poor scheme. And it seems funny to me that the one week the coach makes it a point he’s going to put all his cards on the table and just wreak havoc and let happen what may happen regardless… that when the team doesn’t respond immediately and one of the leaders steps forward to “put it another way” someone comes up with the lunatic idea of making fun of that kid taking a leadership role. And to justify it, they make up some weird babble about the coach not saying something he not only reinforced in the media a couple days before, but that someone would pretend to assume that ANY hoops coach would not tell his or her team to own the boards, let alone one on the college level.

            It’s just a dumb rant to begin with.

            Sloppy play is another thing. And I know it sounds neat to just bench people. But that always depends on degrees of offenses and team dynamics. If you come at your players and sit them for minor mistakes, you can lose a team. I’ve felt Coach Rob has been too extreme in seasons past, and maybe right now the pendulum has swung a little too far the other way. He still has a dog house that makes no sense to me. So there is something to discuss there.

            I guess what I’m saying is that there are so many little things to point to which can all add up to one big wrong. Why do we think it has to be some whopper fairy tale which has to be a catch-all? It just sounds like someone wants to complain about something other than hoops… or sports even.

          • FWIW I didn’t interpret any of the posts as making fun of Moreland or the fact that he spoke up. Maybe that’s because I’m in the good for him camp.

            However, I’m also in the camp which wonders why CR’s teams have been so poor historically when it comes to rebounds and infers from that that there’s something wrong with what CR is doing. Possibly a combination things like, the type of game that he’s having them play (example: 4 corners with the center at the top of the key), teaching them how to position themselves (and the mental attitude that’s needed when one is going for a rebound) etc.

            I think the kids who are good rebounders brought that mental attitude and the knowledge of how to rebound with them to OSU. In part I base that on how the foreign kids rebound and their attitude about rebounding. Imo they play soft and they do not show a mental toughness w.r.t. rebounding.

            Having a coach say something about rebounding and having him enforce the importance of rebounding are two different things. So your point about CR talking about rebounding is well taken but imo he isn’t getting the message across to most of the team. And he’s not calling plays which increase the chances of his players being able to get rebounds.

            So I have no problem with a fan saying that CR is not telling his team to own the boards if I think of it as them speaking in general terms, but implying that there’s a lot more to it than that. Imo that’s not telling a fairy tale any more than someone saying that they don’t like the direction the U.S. economy is taking. A very general statement which can be plumbed to great depths.

            If you’re ever able to get a clear understanding as to why CR substitutes the way he does I know I and I’m sure most folks on this board would be very interested.

            In the past I’ve thought CR was sitting players for what seemed to me to be very minor mistakes. But I don’t recall ever seeing an instance where I thought he was making a change because a player was playing soft on the boards. Not sure how obvious that one would be to a fan.

            Bottom line for me is when you use phrases like “…whopper fairy tale…” and “…someone who wants to complain about something other than hoops…” you’re attacking your fellow fans a bit too harshly and imo doesn’t do you or the conversation a bit of good.

            I think you have a lot good insights to contribute and appreciate you taking the time to share them but (FWIW) I have a negative reaction when you come down on someone, imo, unnecessarily.

            Sorry about being so long winded.

          • The economy is going the same way it was set 40 years ago. If you don’t like supply-side voodoo, do something about it.

            This is precisely my point right here:
            “Having a coach say something about rebounding and having him enforce the importance of rebounding are two different things. So your point about CR talking about rebounding is well taken but imo he isn’t getting the message across to most of the team. And he’s not calling plays which increase the chances of his players being able to get rebounds.”

            There isn’t a coach alive who doesn’t talk about rebounding as being important, let alone excoriating it. Obviously many coaches have circumstances outside their teams (talent/size/strength) which makes it hard for them to make it a reality. And almost every coach there is knows what he says needs to be re-taught by leaders on the team by both action and word.

            What Coach Rob had been doing for years (and still does sometimes) is putting his players in positions which make it almost impossible to rebound effectively. So he’s been talking to the wind for years IMO. That some kids have been able to rebound is astonishing because they (Moreland most often) have to be out of position according to the schemes run in order to do so.

            So when Coach Rob has an epiphany and announces, “Hey! We’re bigger and stronger than almost all teams out there! We’re going to play like we’re bigger and stronger than most teams out there, and they can try to stop us!”… and then his scheme fundamentally changes (except that goddamn extended 1-3-1), I take that as a sign for the better. But when players don’t take to that change and fall back into habits of old which were covered by poor schemes but are not anymore, then him going ballistic does little. He’s said his peace, and he’s probably driven it home more than just in a public forum. It’s up to the players to take those words to heart, and that’s where team leaders come into play. Ideally they do so with their actions. But if that fails then that’s where you hear about things like what Moreland did or players only meetings or similar.

            The fairy tale is in ignoring the present and applying the past. The argument becomes one saying, “But you’re standing here,” in response to me saying, “I’m going to walk over there.” And when one goes off on some tangent riff, it just looks intentionally stupid.

            The problem for Coach Rob is that nobody seems to be listening to the words he says, fans more so than players. And looking at the comments that always follow shows that some people never did listen in the first place because they had some other burr in their saddles besides Beav hoops. I guess that might be understandable since Beav hoops was lost 20 years ago, and we’re just meandering in the wilderness. But it doesn’t make the silly arguments less silly.

            In the end, the one measure of his effect will be his record. There’s nothing good or bad anyone can say about that. If it’s good, then we don’t need to say so… same if it’s bad. It will just be what it will be. It won’t be a measure of who he is as a person, as many want it to be. But it will be a fair measure of how good a coach he is at this time (and probably into the near future as well). At that time, it will also be fair to suggest we need to go in a different direction. Let the Bobby Ds of the world get all butthurt and redfaced when responding to that talk. I will say it in a measured way, and I will bring numbers to back it up. I still hope I don’t have to do so. But I think we’ve reached the “fish or cut bait” period of our relationship with Coach Rob. Perhaps he gets one more year for the excellent fundraising he has done and continues to do. There is absolutely no doubt OSU hoops is in a much much better place than it was six years ago. Part of that is that it just couldn’t get worse. But the other part is that pipe dreams became reality due to Coach Rob’s efforts. I would hate to give another bad year under those circumstances, so I just want his team to take their new tack seriously and push themselves over the hump.

      • I guess everyone deserves second or third chances as the case may be, but I do think Moreland has had other chances to lead (especially by example) and instead we having him serving another suspension that is hurting the team.

        If his halftime speech fired the team up fine, but I will be more impressed if his “leadership” on the court gets them some unexpected wins in conference play.

  1. Oregon State losing right now 31-30. If they lost it this should definitely be a BDC killer. Don’t see how he could have a job come Monday. Not in any BCS conference.

  2. Beavs only up 1 point 34-33 at the half. I have seen enough. Ed Ray, we all are due a lunchtime press conference tomorrow announcing the firing of Bob DeCarolis!

  3. When “their” (UMES) center was on the bench the TV announcers were saying the tallest guy on the court for UMES was 6′ 6″ and they were giving UMES the benefit of the doubt.

    Considering the talent and size of the opponents the Beavs being up by 2x or 3x shouldn’t be a surprise.

    Yet another game that does not prepare the team for Pac-12 play.

    • I guess we would have to see a balance sheet, it doesn’t seem possible. When was the last sell out, that Duck game awhile back?

      I love the names of these directional schools the Beavs play. I was kind of assuming that the only shores in Maryland would be “eastern”, but thanks for the geographic clarification!

    • There is no way they break even on hoops. No “fans” ever go. I don’t have the best seats but missing a home game is rare. I feel like I could sit anywhere I want, and sometimes I do but I don’t understand why more of us don’t. I just rewatched it on tv and the crowd looked non existent. It’s depressing. I know its Holiday for some students but WTF why doesn’t anyone actually come watch the games? Does anyone realize the team we just beat went 2-28 last season? This eastern shores team was projected to be among the very worst in all of CBB and Robinson repeatedly shanks the play calling and the team is unfocused and nearly knotted it at the half. Man that team sucked and we are better right now but honestly I’m not sure we have a team that is ready to compete with AZ and UCLA types. Looks like Oregon is doing fine again with all of their one year miracle situation players that are probably all ineligible. The NCAA should do a full investigation of that altman guy and his zero class staff.

  4. @Jack

    No “Reply” button for me to click on so I have to use this as a means of responding.

    I enjoyed reading what you had to say.

    I’m wondering what you’re referring to when you write:

    “…It just sounds like someone wants to complain about something other than hoops……”
    and
    “…because they had some other burr in their saddles besides Beav hoops…”.

    Lastly……

    “…The economy is going the same way it was set 40 years ago. If you don’t like supply-side voodoo, do something about it….”

    Imo it’s too late to do something about it. We’ve lost and the new world order crowd has won.

  5. Howdy! This postt couldn’t be written much better! Reading through this article reminds me of
    my previous roommate! He always kept preaching about this.
    I’ll send this post to him. Fairly certain he’s going to have a great read.
    Many thanks for sharing!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here